Mama Knows Best
by NeoKGS
Summary: Mama Elle tries to guide her useless and ungrateful son onto the path that she knows is best...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**: Welp, time to finally hop back on the horse! This is the next segment in the Maturation universe, with the first two fics being A Strange Feeling and Under an Alien Sky, both of which are (currently) on neosaiyanangel's account. This chapter is set before both of the previously mentioned fics. Strap down and enjoy the ride!

* * *

Mama Lipsky, or to those in the know, Mama Elle, was known to the world at large as Matilda Edith Lipsky. She was an elderly woman, small and bent over from apparent osteoporosis, but in otherwise amazing health. She was also as temperamental as the most cliché crotchety old woman, but only among a select few people. To the world in general, she was genial and a bit neurotic about her son, but that was far from unexpected.

Inside her own mind, however, she was more than bit crotchety. She was blatantly pissed off! Mostly at herself, but a good portion of her anger was reserved for her wayward son. She just didn't know where she went wrong with her boy. "Drew, I'm sure you're misunderstanding what I meant!"

She'd made sure he was optimally cared for emotionally. "Nngh, I don't think so, Mother."

He had never wanted for food when he was a growing boy, unlike _she_ had back in the Union... Especially during the war! "Oh, you most certainly _are_ misunderstanding! After all, _plenty_ of women have careers and children!"

The neighborhood where they lived was suitably average, and situated _right_ in the middle of one of the most scientifically dense areas of the United States! "But... Mother, I think that's just too many..."

The independence she had given him was enough for him to grow into his own man, though she'd made sure he was _suitably_ close to his dear mother. "Nonsense, Drewbie! I would have had more, but I was just too busy to be able to give another baby enough attention to let them grow up big and strong like you. By the time I had the chance, I was just too old!"

So why was he suddenly so rebelliously willful? So willing to dispute _her_ will? "And _I'm_ not too old, Mother?" His tone, to her barely concealed irritation, took on a note she hadn't heard from him before: exasperation.

"You're barely forty-three, Drew!" Mama Elle countered, her tone taking on some exasperation of her own.

"Barely..." Drakken gasped, and she could easily picture his mouth working ineffectually, something that was far too common for the greatest disappointment of her life... And her only real hope. "For the _last time_, I am _not_ going to make my, erm, 'partner' go through something that traumatic!" The blue disappointment had the gaul to sound _irritated_ with her... Now, if he'd just _listen_ for a few minutes...!

"Drewbie, you're breaking your poor old mother's heart!" She would have made a show of clasping her hands, but the fact that he was talking to her via her old audio-only phone made the motion moot. "All I want is a good, strong set of grandbabies to spoil and love! Are you really going to deny your _own mother_ that?!"

"Nnnnngh…" The emphasis on her having birthed him seemed to play at some of the kinked, convoluted strings in his head. "Mother, I am not denying you any grandbabies! Just, I just think that asking u-.. Er, rather, me and whoever I end up with - if I _do_ end up with someone - for _eight children_ is a bit much."

He was as see-through as a Global Justice undercover agent. Mama Elle decided not to press the obviousness of his relationship status, instead opting to keep pressing the beleaguered mother point. "How could you do this to me?! You _promised_ that I would get adorable little babies to coddle and love!" And train to do _her_ will. She would definitely need a different approach when doing that, if her boy's upstartiness and failures was any indication.

Of course... Yes, now that her mother wasn't around, yes, she could use _proper_ techniques... She shook her head as she realized she'd paused a little longer than she should have, and finished in a rush, hoping Drakken mistook the pause as her looking for the right words, "Are you going to let your poor mother down?" That should do it.

"Well, I, I…" She heard him growl in frustration, then suddenly he cried, "Apparently I am!"

Mama found her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. _Did he just…_ That worthless, spineless, ridiculous little _boy_! How _dare_ he speak back to her! "_Drewbie_…!"

"No! Don't you, 'Drewbie!' me, Mother!" Drakken snarled at her. She recoiled from her receiver, shocked at the virulent spite in his voice. "I can't _believe_ you! You… You demanding harpie! After all the effort I've gone through to try and make you happy, and you still aren't even _slightly_ appeased?! Haven't you been proud, or pleased, or _anything_ besides disappointed in me?"

No, never. "Absolutely! I-.."

"Don't _lie_ to me!" he growled. "Don't you... You had better not even _think_ of lying to me about this! I have tried, for _years_ I've tried, so, so _damn_ hard, to make you proud!" Mama Elle blinked, the exceedingly rare, if mild, curse silencing her long enough to continue with his rant, "I even kept my failures _quiet_ when I could have used some support. And still you can't even be proud of me for _saving the entire goddamn planet_!"

What kind of _villain_ would be proud of something like that? "I don't understand, Drewbie. Why are you brea-.."

"Breaking your heart? Aren't I _always_ breaking your heart?" he snarked. The sarcasm was unfamiliar coming from him. The heaviness of it affected Mama Elle slightly, but she quickly dismissed it as some kind of gas. After all, it wouldn't do to have emotions for a waste. "It's amazing you even have any heart left!"

"Andrew Theodore Percival Lipsky! How _dare_ you talk to your mother that way…!" She was losing the argument. It was obvious at this point that the feelings he was expressing were rather deeply rooted. Where in the world he got those things was beyond her.

"I'll dare to talk to you however I want, please and thank you!" Drakken snipped. Ah yes, there was the last clue. Now she knew what little hussy had gotten into her weak son's head. "If you can't understand why it just isn't feasible for anyone I would end up with to have six or more children with me, then you're a, a... An old _fool_ of a woman! That would be nearly _six years_ of being pregnant all by itself, let alone caring for all those children."

Damn, someone had explained it to him. She'd been hoping to ride that cluelessness until he'd had at least a couple of children. "Now, now, you _know_ I would help out with them."

"You could barely handle _me_ in your prime!" Prime that was wasted on him. "Why do you think having _several_ grandchildren when you're even _older_ would be _**easier**_!?"

"It wouldn't be easy," she allowed, "but I know I could handle caring for all of my adorable little-.."

"You're just repeating yourself now!"

"Because you won't listen!"

There was a pregnant pause, both of them unwilling to say anything. Finally, Drakken said, "I think that we're done here." He said it with such finality that she almost believed him.

"We are not-.."

The phone clicked and went dead.

It took her a full minute to truly comprehend all that had just happened, the incessant buzzing of the off-hook tone finally piercing through her disbelief.

Her stupid, rebellious son had _disobeyed_ her.

He was shacking up with that redheaded heroine that she could have sworn he'd hated with a passion.

She was not going to get her desired manipulable grandchildren without a fight.

Well... Fine. Yes, it was fine. She was patient. That was something she'd learned when she was young, even before she'd taken her father's place as an Avtoritet in the Pasternak Bratva. And even then, the Russian mafia had only been a mere stepping stone for her.

Mama Elle set the receiver back into its cradle, with perhaps a little more force than necessary. It had been a while, but she could fight. This was something that was worth fighting for. She still had her contract, written up with very specific language. That _other_ hussy, the super powered freak show… Just _thinking _about the lost opportunity made Mama Elle's blood boil! She had been _outsmarted_; she hadn't known the woman had been in the underworld before joining the villainous underground! She had always thought the woman had taken the familiar superhero-cum-villain route, but, no, she'd first gone into _true_ crime. And had been good enough that she'd made allies that still respected her!

A simple oversight, but one that could very well have been fatal, and one which made the loss even more grating! What was worse, of course, was the clear fact that her extraterrestrially modified metabolism had also fought off the effects of the miniaturized compliance chip. Not too surprising, since they _were_ more fragile than the full size units, but it was the principle of the thing. The woman that she was _certain_ was Drakken's new paramore would be much easier to corral.

Unfortunately, her son was proving much harder to control than he ever had before. When he'd been younger, it had been easy. He had only ever had one long term girlfriend - if you could call six months long term - and the redheaded surgeon-to-be had been difficult to deal with. Ultimately, with the help of his closest friend, she'd ultimately succeeded in pointing him in the direction of _her_ choosing. In fact, those friends had been easily... Distracted, and easy to use against him in the end! Those stubborn geeks at his precious little school, so book smart, but hardly smart enough in life to realize simple manipulation when they saw it...!

Perhaps getting him out of that school hadn't been the best idea in the long run. He'd stayed there for another full semester, after all, even after she'd managed to alienate his friends. She'd used subtle and obvious as mud hints to that damn Chink to get him to turn the others against Drakken… She hadn't realized their potential, her hatred of Possibles having clouded her judgment, or that it would turn the boy into an even _bigger_ disappointment in the long run. But hindsight is, as always, twenty-twenty.

And that redheaded _slut_ that was crushing on him over his preference in _books_? He was _obviously_ her rebound after breaking up with that oaf of a marine. She'd seen it, but Drakken, her stupid boy, hadn't listened! And then the woman had the temerity to send dear Alexi away with a broken wrist? How she'd ignored his charms, she still didn't know. The man had been a _beautiful_ example of the Soviet Union's finest athletes; strong jaw, cleft chin, lovely, stylish straw colored hair, piercing grey eyes... Hell, she'd tried him out a few times herself! But that woman had denied him, all because she was already interested in Drakken, of all boys?

Oh, that woman had been a challenge, she had to admit! The girl, Mama Elle knew, had been in love with Drakken. But, once she'd finally slipped all the right triggers in place, pushed Drakken at just the right time to set those triggers off, she'd been set to get her out of Drakken's life. Then it took just a little influence to the right person, all to make sure the freshman girl got an invitation to a mixer that was normally reserved for sophomores and higher.

She would probably be unable to do that now. Mama Elle wouldn't have the time considering how far into school the girl was, and that was setting aside the phone call. Besides which, she doubted that his current little toy would fall for it anyway; she _was_ a GJ jackboot, after all! They may be morons, but over the last few years, they'd become _well trained_ morons, enough so to spot even competent manipulation. Back then, however, they hadn't been as well trained, and had been unable to spot the manipulation used against the child of one of their highest ranking agents.

And while it was true her misbegotten son had persisted in going to that never to be sufficiently damned institution, she's persevered in getting him away from it. Just the right few drops of copper sulphate in the wrong place took care of that. And it had given him at least a modicum of extranormal power, and a large dose of hope for her.

Unfortunately, she was now stuck with the quandary that was Drakken. A quandary, she admitted grudgingly, which was becoming more and more opaque to her with each passing day. At one time, he'd been subdued, easily manipulated. Willing to do _whatever_ she hinted at. Now, he was becoming willful, perhaps even... Independent.

She frowned, briefly hoping the thought would just go away. But looking at things in that damnably clear hindsight, she couldn't. And with that same glance backwards through her past, she realized that, maybe, she had been just a tad hasty in her machinations. Maybe…

She shook her head out of the past, concentrating on the present. It was true that Drakken was getting old. The lack of any inheritor for if he had ever managed to conquer the world had set off alarm bells _years_ before. It was pure inadequacy that had prevented Drakken from even threatening to have any children...

She would have to do something with this new redhead. Ironically, the daughter of the one she'd chased away before. And, if she was wrong, and she was just a friend of Drakken's, well... She was still Mama Elle! She had resources. And time. All the time in the world, in fact! And now, she would dedicate all of it to bringing Drakken back to heel and tame the red headed tramp!

Besides, if world conquest was easy, someone would have managed it already...


	2. Chapter 2

And here's chapter 2! The story of Mama Elle continues, from a slightly different perspective, this time...

**MLMLMLML**

_Okay,_ Kim Possible grumbled mentally, _Camille Leon's teamed up with Falsetto Jones in... Spain?_ Her mind boggled at that for a moment, before she continued with the report on her GJ issued — and Wade modified — tablet computer, _And the Seniors are buying up real estate in Denmark, but using villainous funds to do so..._

She shook her head as she walked down the street from the hidden GJ tubeway. It was rather pedestrian to be sure, but she _was_ visiting Drew's mother, and it would be rather rude to just appear on her doorstep! Especially as this was the first time they'd be meeting without anyone else there to act as a buffer.

_The things I do for that man..._ she sighed fondly to herself, before sobering slightly, _But this is a waste of _time_! I have _reports_ to read, training schedules to _update_, a few _promotions_ to consider feeding up to Director Du... Director _Powers_, Possible, he married _Mo_, remember!_

Kim just couldn't understand what she had been thinking when she agreed to the meeting. She disliked admitting it, but she hated dealing with the clingy, often overbearing woman, even if she is Drew's mother! And she always felt on edge, even when the blue man was there. So why agree to meet her all alone?

She pursed her lips slightly as she glanced up the sidewalk to Mrs. Lipsky's house. With a sigh, she gave a little headshake, concluding it had been her distraction with trying to rush back to her job that had short-circuited her critical thinking capacity enough to agree with it. The fact that her job, and the reports she'd just been reading, had her in a heightened state of alertness — in mission-mode, as Ron used to say — didn't help her annoyance. Still, she tried to smother her mental and emotional state as she reached out and knocked firmly on Mrs. Lipsky's front door.

After something like a half-minute, Kim could hear hurried steps coming toward the door. She briefly caught some angry, spiteful mutterings of "Youth cream… Pah!" before the door began to open. "Come on in!" the jowl-faced woman said with a good deal of cheer, practically throwing open her door in greeting, the annoyance Kim had heard through the door gone. "I'm _so_ glad to be able to meet my precious little boy's only good lady friend."

"Don't you mean one of them?" she asked as she entered the small home, not managing to suppress her confusion at Mrs. Lipsky's assumptions about Drew.

Kim got an owlish blink in reply. "My Drewbie has other lady friends?" The confusion and certainty perforated every word, almost making Kim doubt herself.

"Yes…? I mean, yes ma'am." Kim was directed to a small dining room table where a tea set was already prepared and various snacks such as tea cakes and crumpets were laid out around it. Sitting down, she couldn't help but to feel the coziness of the space seep into her limbs. "Drew and I have many mutual friends that happen to be women, not to mention his lady friends from work."

"Oh my. My little boy is quite the lady's man," Mrs Lipsky giggled as she poured out tea for the both of them. "But I'm sure you're his _best_ lady friend."

Alarm bells went off in Kim's head. She could see the proverbial minefield in front of her, the mines all variants of the words 'babies for Mama', with that one British comedian's theme song as the musical accompaniment for stepping across that minefield. Drew had made his last conversation with his mother no secret, and it was clear to Kim that his mother was still not giving up without a fight.

"Yeah, I am his best lady _friend_," Kim emphasized. _Small lies don't hurt anyone._ She considered taking a sip of tea, but thought better of it. It was a manners faux pas to do so before the host did, after all.

"Oh my!" The small woman put a hand to her lips in surprise. "That certainly wasn't the impression my Drewbie gave me!" She tilted her head and looked between Kim and her tea. "You can drink your tea if you want. I'm not all that thirsty."

Apparently Mrs. Lipsky had the same babies chant going in her head, if the oddly colored disappointment Kim saw in her eyes was any indication. Her Kimness, as Ron used to call it, the instincts that went into overdrive in mission mode, screamed at the agent, telling her the look in the older woman's eyes was more significant than just babies. _But what are they trying to _tell_ me?_

She wanted to discard the intense sensation of nervousness, but after her BF-ex-BF had left, she'd learned to _never_ ignore those instincts. _They haven't led me wrong yet..._ She barely resisted the urge to give a sharp shake of her head when she realized how long she'd been silent. Instead, she gave her head a thoughtful, easy half shrugging sway, "I'm afraid you're mistaken. Drew and I… We _are_ friends, _good_ friends, yes, but we aren't together like _that_." _Small lies don't hurt anyone!_

Mrs. Lipsky looked expectantly at her, her eyes traveling from Kim to the tea and back again, clearly distracted by Kim's apparent disinterest. "So, you aren't hungry, or thirsty, or anything…? Not even a small sip of my delicious tea? I picked the leaves myself!"

For some reason, the insistence on the tea made Kim's skin crawl with a strange feeling of paranoia. "No thank you. I just had lunch, and, at least for me, a full stomach with caffeine is a bad combination." _Small lies don't hurt anyone_! she repeated, the chant Drew had taught her a few months earlier settling her nervous gut. It had seemed silly at the time, but it had helped immensely with the stress she felt when lying. _Well, it had helped when he pointed out that nearly everyone used small, social lies a daily basis, even me!_ She managed a convincingly honest smile through the guilt that admittedly assaulting her mind. _Small lies don't hurt _anyone_!_

"Oh, dear me," Mrs. Lipsky gasped, "My old friend, Belle, had the same problem!" With a completely at ease smile, the elderly woman shrugged, "I hope you don't mind if I continue?"

"By all means." Kim smiled, mentally relaxing as Drew's mother swallowed another little lie.

"As _you_ may know, _will_ing that you're such a close friend, my dear Drewbie wants to have children someday," Mrs. Lipsky said. "_Do_ you... I mean, you look like a hard _work_ing woman... Are you a field agent, or are you stuck _behind_ the oh-so-dreaded _desk_?" Kim nodded reluctantly, reminding herself that as blasé as she was with the tubes, GJ was still, with a good deal more than their 'international police agency' trappings would indicate, a top-secret organization.

"_If_ you're able to say, what with _you_ being with Global Justice and all that they _do_, of course!" Kim shrugged, spreading her fingers and opening her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Lipsky continued, as if she were on a roll, "And so what would it hurt to _give_ your good friend, my _Drew_, my little boy, a baby or two?" She sighed, staring Kim in the eyes and smiling in a hopeful manner, "It's been his dream since he was _six_, to have some little _babies_, and being the old-fashioned lady I am, I so desire to have a grandchild to spoil!"

Kim paused as she was about to answer. Yes, Kim wanted to have children sometime, and with Drew would be nice, but... Something was... Odd about the way Mrs. Lipsky had said that. The pacing of her speech, the almost poetic cadence, strange emphasises, and odd, almost subliminal stoppages, set off some subtle alarm bells in her mind. Even more troubling, it heightened her already edgy Kimness. She found herself nearly shaking her head again at her thoughts, weirdly trying to synch with the older woman's speech, but her instincts screamed at her not to. Instead, she gave Mrs. Lipsky a disarming, if understanding smile, "That is an awful lot to ask a friend for. Babies and children take a lot of time and care, not to mention the issues that could pop up with pregnancy."

"But how will I get my little grandbabies to spoil?" the older woman gasped, the sound coming across flatter than Kim had expected. There was another note of disappointment in Mrs. Lipsky's eyes, but for some reason, the redhead couldn't help but think it was not at Kim's denial, but something tangentially related to it. Something she could almost put a finger on. "I… I know my little boy doesn't have many options when it comes to women. As much as I love my baby, he just _ruined_ his chances when he did that whole supervillain thing."

"You… Know about the villainy?" Kim asked, so surprised she was knocked off of the mental tracks of placing why the conversation seemed so off.

"Of course!" Mrs. Lipsky tittered. "My little boy tries to hide his bigger projects, but I'm more observant than he gives me credit for. I knew that he was doing smaller villain things — doing the mind games that I used to get _such_ a kick out of from our cousins — and he knew that I don't like those big, flashy villain types."

Kim boggled at that tidbit of information. She knew? Drew did all of that song and dance for her for no good reason? That seemed… Odd, and a waste for all involved. Why let him do all that?

"Now, he could always use his little science doo-dads to try and make a baby," the other woman continued from her previous topic, "but, well, I don't put much stock in them. Drewbie told me about a son he had once that went and dissolved on him! That's why I want him to have a ladyfriend help him out."

The redhead tried not to grit her teeth at the memory of Eric and the Diablos. _The past is the past!_ the little voice in her head chided, a reminder of an old, dead argument between her and Drew._ Besides, it looks like she's trying to rile you up for some reason; the incident with Eric went public pretty fast after you and Drew got closer after college. Probably to try and slip you up, if she suspects..._

Then something else popped into her head: another conversation with Drew about how, when reinforced with truth, a little lie became more of a half truth. Letting an honestly melancholic smile slide onto her face, Kim shrugged, "Honestly, it's still too soon for me to really be interested in anyone. Ron, my boyfr-.. _Ex_-boyfriend, rather, and I were _awfully_ close when he left Terra, and I'm just not ready to date yet." She let out a little laugh, "Plus, my work keeps me too busy to really date anyone right now!"

"Now now, you shouldn't be like that!" Mrs. Lipsky chided. "You saw how close my boy and that _hussy_ were when she went and broke his heart in front of everyone. If my Drewbie can hop back on the horse, so can you!"

"You seem to be assuming that Drew is somehow 'over' that, and that it's something to be taken lightly…" Her voice became steely, the direction of the conversation sounding similar to the phone conversation Drew had told her about. For a brief moment, Mrs. Lipsky stared at her, and Kim felt as if she were being weighed and measured... And, for some odd reason, not by a mother… It seemed closer to the way Dr Director used to look at her when a particular mission went pear-shaped. _Probably just used to pulling this stuff on Drew, making him listen to her… Treating him like her own little soldier, and trying to do the same to me!_

"I see." Mrs. Lipsky nodded, smiling gently at her, and Kim felt the weight of her gaze lift. "Well, I guess I can understand that. He's always been so emotional, so sensitive. I worried he might not have grown enough to weigh his options." Kim felt something... Subtly off about the statement, but couldn't put a mental finger on it. Instead of discarding it out of hand, she set it off to one side of her mind, to worry over without concentrating on it. It was something similar to what her mother had always told her to do, think about something completely different, but consciously doing so. It was one of the few things Will had taught her since marrying Monique.

"Drew seems grown enough to me." Kim chuckled, the little voice in her head insisting she test some of the murky water she felt was about, "He _is_ already 43, wrinkles and a-.."

"Age means _nothing_!" Mrs. Lipsky interrupted with a surprising amount of vehemence. "To assume someone could be pa-.." She seemed to get confused, cutting herself off and covering her mouth, before saying, "Oh my! I'm so sorry. I just get so _angry_ when people say bad things about my little boy because of his age…!"

That was wrong. All of that was _wrong_. Mrs. Lipsky seemed to understand that too, as she suddenly said, "I'm sorry dear, but I think that I've just managed to wear myself out with my little indignant streak there. Just, please don't be so presumptive about my little Drewbie. His age doesn't mean anything, really."

Kim nodded, making sure to keep her smile pleasant despite the continued, subtle wrongness she felt with Mrs. Lipsky's wording. "It's not a problem, ma'am, I understand." Mentally chewing over the elderly woman's last few statements, she shrugged and murmured, "I get a bit defensive of Drew, too. I mean, it's what friends do; they make sure they're okay, and defend them when they're not around to defend themselves."

Mrs. Lipsky... Didn't flinch, not as most people would. But there was something there, just below Kim's perceptions. It was like fighting Shego, when the woman's muscles would bunch just so, or her eyes would harden at the same moment she threw out an attack. Most people would miss it, but, as with Shego, Kim caught the vague hint of movement in Mrs. Lipsky's lower eyelids, the subtle, more felt than seen cocking of her head to the right.

"Well!" Mrs. Lipsky said cheerily, "I'm so glad my little Drewbie has friends like you around him, then!" She tittered like a gossiping old woman at a rest home, something Kim had experience with thanks to her more common visits with Nana when visiting Drew. But there was something subtly... Plastic about the titter. Again, Kim couldn't put her finger on it, so she put that in the same mental box with the other wrongness she felt and shrugged.

"Everyone needs friends," Kim chirped, giving a little snigger of her own. She was once again thankful that she had taken lessons on lying from Drew; her amusement sounded natural thanks to thinking about the Tweebs nearly being kicked out of MIST for the fifth time, even though it wasn't their fault this time. Even so, she had to be careful. Something was Not Right, and it wasn't just a mother protecting her son. Kim pondered it for a moment, allowing her face to fall into a neutral, considering expression, before prodding, "You mentioned Shego earlier?"

"Yes, that _hussy_," Mrs. Lipsky growled, with more heat than Kim could really consider appropriate. Not even her father had been that angry with Ron when he'd left for Lorwardia, after all! Mrs. Lipsky's next words, with vitriol so strong that her mouth practically foamed, shocked Kim enough that she had to fight to keep from gaping at the elderly woman. "Can you believe her? Leaving my poor little love struck boy at the altar? She even had the audacity to tell me it was because she didn't want to have any children!"

_Didn't want_ any _children?_ Kim chewed the words over in her head. _No, that's not right, is it?_ She remembered a conversation she'd had with Shego, a surprise conversation in passing while waiting for their mutual favorite, quad-shot mocha at a coffee shop, back before she'd run off on Drew. Shego had wanted kids, at least one or two, but not for a few years. _No, that's definitely up there with 'Not Right' about this whole conversation..._ Kim nodded questioningly, to keep the older woman going while she continued thinking, _But, maybe, it's just the anger about what Shego did, so she's using unintentional hyperbole?_

"And that's not all," Mrs. Lipsky continued, and Kim kicked herself for missing part of the conversation, "She had the unmitigated _gall_ to tell me she was leaving Drew for his own good! His _own __**good**_! And that, that _hussy_ said she _**loved**_ him? Pshaw, I say!"

There was no way that she would have known that. When, after all, would Mrs Lipsky have even talked with Shego? The former mercenary had kept such a low profile leading up to the wedding, and even more so _after_ leaving Drew that even _Wade_ had trouble tracking her; she had simply _vanished_ those two long years ago! No sign, even to this day... _This is getting out of hand..._ Kim realized, bothered by Mrs. Lipsky's assertion that it was entirely Shego's fault. Granted, Shego wasn't the _nicest_ woman in the world, but...

"I'm sorry, Dearie." Mrs. Lipsky sighed, shaking her head and placing her hands on the table in front of her, "I guess I'm still a bit protective of my little man."

"It's not a problem, Mrs. Lipsky," Kim said with an easy, if not entirely honest smile. _Small lies don't hurt anybody..._ she reminded herself, then glanced at the wrist Kimmunicator, which was in watch mode, "And I'm terribly sorry, but I have to get to work." Taking a chance, she reached out and patted Mrs. Lipsky's hand, "Drew's my friend, my best friend, and I have his back. I can promise, no one will hurt him like that again."

Mrs. Lipsky looked at her, and Kim felt that undeniable sensation of being weighed and measured again. As with the last time, the expression was gone almost as fast as it appeared, leaving Kim wondering whether she'd actually seen it or if it was her own paranoia at work. "Well, you be careful, Dearie! Goodness knows my Drewbie _needs_ friends!"

Kim stood just after Mrs. Lipsky did, wanting to get out of the house which no longer seemed quite so homey and comfortable. There was a subtle foreboding about it, little touches that should have been there not being there, or being strangely out of place. And then there was the conversation, the elderly woman's wording, the cadence, pacing and tonality of her speech niggling at the back of Kim's mind. She allowed Mrs. Lipsky to show her out, making vaguely pleasant small talk, while her mind chewed over the oddness of the visit. As she made her way towards the GJ tube, her mind was zeroing in on the issues she felt with the visit when her Kimmunicator went off. Grimacing, she lifted it and accepted the call, "_So_ not the best time, Wade! I'm going to be late if I don-.."

"Sorry, Kim, but this is work related!" the taller, somewhat thinner hacker extraordinaire chuckled, "I got a hit on the site about a supervillain at work, and Director Powers agreed that you'd be the best agent for the job!"

"Oh?" Kim raised an eyebrow, not sure if she believed him or not.

"Yeah, you're not going to _believe_ this," Wade chuckled. "Bonnie's come out as a villain, and she's working with her father-in-law, Triple-S!"

"Oh, great..." Kim sighed, Wade's words shoving the issues of her visit with Mrs. Lipsky to the wayside. "I'm on my way to the Tenth and Broadway tube, Wade..."

**MLMLMLML**


End file.
